The body of a missing skier was discovered at the base of a waterfall in Mount Rainier National Park by a team of park rangers. Rescue crews began searching for the woman on May 19. She was last heard from on May 18, when she set out on a ski tour above Paradise.
“A ground team of two rangers searched Deadhorse Creek Basin, Panorama Face, and Alta Vista, looking for tracks over the Nisqually drainage. A team of two climbing rangers from Camp Muir looked over the Nisqually and Paradise glaciers and searched the Muir Snowfield to Pebble Creek and Panorama Point. A team of two volunteers conducted a visual search of the Nisqually drainage,” the National Park Service said in a press release.
During a period of favorable weather, a helicopter located an unresponsive person at the base of Pebble Creek’s Moraine Falls. However, rescuers could immediately reach the body, which had fallen about 200 feet, because the “area was surrounded by a large, unstable snow moat that was subject to rock and ice fall, which posed too high of an immediate risk to recovery teams.”
During the next period of favorable weather, park rangers were able to reach the body and secure it so it could be airlifted to Kautz Creek Helibase.
Officials did not identify the woman.
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